the policy and conduct of Sir B. Frere; and
it desires not only to express its sympathy with Sir B. Frere and its
confidence in his policy, but also to go so far as to congratulate most
heartily Her Majesty the Queen, the Home Government, and ourselves, on
possessing such a true, considerate, and faithful servant as his
Excellency the High Commissioner."

A public dinner also was given to Sir B. Frere at Pretoria, at which his
health was drunk with the greatest enthusiasm; there was a public
holiday, and other rejoicings.

Sir Bartle Frere was intending to go to Bloemfontein, in the

Orange Free State, to visit President Brand, with whom he was on
cordial terms, and with whom he wished to talk over his plans for the
Transvaal; but instructions came from Sir Michael Hicks-Beach to proceed
to Cape Town. He therefore left Pretoria on May 1st. He was welcomed
everywhere with the utmost cordiality and enthusiasm. At Potchefstroom
there was a public dinner and a reception. On approaching Bloemhof he
was met by a large cavalcade, and escorted into the township, where a
triumphal arch had been erected, and an address was presented.

"At Kimberley he had been sworn in as Governor of Griqualand West.
Fifteen thousand people, it was estimated, turned out to meet and
welcome him. From thence to Cape Town his journey was like a triumphal
progress, the population at each place he passed through receiving him
in flag-decorated streets, with escorts, triumphal arches,
illuminations, and addresses. At Worcester, where he reached the
railway, there was a banquet, at which Sir Gordon Sprigg was also
present. At Paarl, which was the head-quarters of the Dutch Afrikander
league, and where some of the most influential Dutch families live, a
similar reception was given him. Finally, at Cape Town, where, if
anywhere, his policy was likely to find opponents among those who
regarded it from a provincial point of view, the inhabitants of all
classes and sections and of whatever origin, gave themselves up to
according him a reception such as had never been surpassed in Capetown.

"In England, complimentary local receptions and addresses to men in high
office or of exalted rank do not ordinarily carry much meaning. Party
tactics and organization account for a proportion of such
manifestations. But the demonstration on this occasion cannot be so
explained. There was no party organization to stimulate it. It was too
general to confer notoriety on any of its promoters, and Sir B. Frere
had not personally the power, even if he had had the will, to return
compliments. And what made it the more remarkable was that there was no
special victory or success or event of any kind to celebrate."[21]

On reaching Cape Town, a telegraphic message was handed to him,
preparing him for his recall, by the statement that Sir H. Bulwer was to
replace him as High Commissioner of the Transvaal, Natal, and all the
adjoining eastern portion of South Africa, and that he was to confine
his attention for the present to the Cape Colony.

To deprive him of his authority as regarded Natal, Zululand, the
Transvaal--the Transvaal, which almost by his single hand and voice he
had just saved from civil war--and expressly to direct Colonel Lanyon to
cease to correspond with him, was to discredit a public servant before
all the world at the crisis of his work.

Sir Bartle Frere's great object had been to bring about a Confederation
of all the different States and portions of South Africa, an object with
which the Home Government was in sympathy.

What was wanting to bring about confederation was confidence, founded on
the permanent pacification and settlement of Zululand, the Transvaal,
the Transkei, Pondoland, Basutoland, West Griqualand, and the border
generally. How could there, under these circumstances, be confidence any
longer? There was no doubt what he had meant to do. By many a weary
journey he had made himself